2 best friends die in Clinton car crash

CLINTON — Jennifer Panizo said she thought her 17-year-old son, Keith Dziokonski, was sleeping over at his best friend's house when he didn't come home by his 1 a.m. curfew Saturday.

At 7 a.m. she got a phone call from her son's father, who told her police had informed him that Keith had been killed in a car accident along with his best friend, 18-year-old Luke Martin.

Police said a preliminary investigation shows speed appears to be a factor in the accident, which occurred between 3:20 and 3:45 a.m. in the area of 12 and 20 Chestnut St., near Green Street.

Ms. Panizo, who lives at 92 Walnut St., said she last saw her son at dinner Friday evening. He left shortly afterward with Luke and she assumed they were going to Luke's home.The two teens, she said were inseparable.

"I thought Keith was sleeping over at Luke's house. Luke was always at our house or Keith was at his," she said sobbing at the accident scene Saturday afternoon, after coming to try to make sense of things. "He was just 17 and now he's gone. It just doesn't make sense. I'm just waiting for someone to tell me this was all a mistake."

She said Keith, who formerly attended Assabet Valley Regional High School in Marlboro, was a sophomore at Clinton High School. The family moved from Hudson to Clinton about a year ago. She said Luke, who graduated from Hudson High School in June, was the driver because her son had never driven and did not have a learner's permit.

She said Keith, who was 6 feet, 6 inches tall, was a gentle giant who was worshipped by his two younger brothers, one 2½ and the other whose 6th birthday is Sunday. Keith was an outstanding artist and he enjoyed playing video games, she said.

"Keith was a really good kid with a good sense of humor. He loves to make people laugh. He had a really big heart," she said.

Residents who live near the accident scene said the vehicle had to have been traveling at a very high rate of speed. They said the car appeared to have come down the hill from the Wachusett Reservoir and abruptly crossed Chestnut Street near Green Street, knocking down a fence and part of a stone wall and striking two parked vehicles before bursting into flames

Raphael Rodriguez, 56, a music teacher in the Worcester Public Schools who lives in a duplex at 20 Clinton St., said he was awakened by what he thought was an explosion at 3:20 a.m. He looked out the window and saw a car on fire. He said he immediately called 911. He said it took emergency workers nearly an hour to extinguish the fire and get the teens out of the car. The impact broke a window in his home and his SUV was one of two that was heavily damaged by the crash. His garden in his front yard was destroyed when a tow truck driver had to pull the teens' vehicle through it. Some potatoes he was able to salvage were lying on his porch.

"I never have seen anything like this in my life," he said. "Obviously they were speeding really, really fast. No other car was involved."

Felix Mendoza, who lives at 12 Chestnut St., said after the flames were out, he could see Luke, who Ms. Panizo said had to have been the driver, in the back seat.